The Dude, having learned that his dear friend Zaius of Parma had passed away in northern Africa, volunteered to return Zaius's body to Praxis, captial city of Lemuria. By the time he arrived in Lepcis Magna many of Jupiter's Priests were proclaiming Zaius as a Saint, since decomposition had not set in.

The Dude, realizing that a Saint of Jupiter would be a target for the Asgardians in their war against Olympus, contracted the Cloudship Virago for safe passage to Praxis. Hurricane, Dann, Luken and Tesla were fellow passengers leaving Lepcis Magna and Fikrit and Becker were hands onboard the ship.

Nearly half way to Lemuria a number of Valkrieg, riding Pegasus, attacked the ship. The Valkrieg were being led by the Geirilla, Koenig. Koenig offered parley and met with Captain Killius to hear the Geirilla's terms.

However, Killius refuses to hand over the body of Zaius, so Koenig orders his Valkrieg to attack.

While the Dude remains below deck watching over his departed friend, the Virago's crew and it's other passengers beginning defending against the warrior women.

Telsa is able to stun Koenig and his Valkrieg are made short work of. Koenig manages to make it below deck and the Dude realizes that his evil soul can escape his Geirilla body and could invade Zaius' body. The Dude stalls Koenig long enough for Luken to attack him from behind.

However, Koenig merely laughs as he life fades and tells the Dude that, "You are far from victorious."

And at that moment the Virago is torn asunder as Thor joins the battle and our heroes begin to tumble toward the earth...

Friday, December 28, 2012

When Hitler crossed over into Aquila he brought two items: the Spear of Destiny and a special Strata-Gem that held the souls of his inner circle.

The trip across realities and his use of magic to enthrall the Valkrieg ravage his body and he was forced to find a new host for his malevolence. After much searching he found a band of carnivorous gorillas and was able to capture it's leader and transfer his soul into it's powerful body. Soon after, he began using the other members of the band as hosts for his inner circle. And so the Geirillas were born.

When Hitler crossed over into Aquila, he came upon a tribe of Amazons and slowly used his magic to shape them into an elite unit of vicious soldiers.

One of their first missions was to capture a large flock of Pegasus, creatures prized by Jupiter. The Fuhrer knew that it would wound Jupiter's pride and remind his enemies of Asgard's sacred Valykrie. And so the Valkrieg were forged.

Over the last 20 years, writers of the Dark Knight have continued trying to trump each other with the amount of carnage and mayhem the Clown Prince of Crime has caused. And his body count. And then Batman sends him back to Arkham Asylum, where we all know he's going to escape.

Hell, Batman even protected the Joker when a Gotham crime boss hired Hitman to kill him.

So DC hides behind Batman's Code versus Killing to protect a murdering lunatic. I guess whatever state Gotham City is in doesn't have the Death Penalty?!

We're not dealing with Batman comics written for kids, at least in the regular DC continuity, anymore. Having Joker tried for his grisly murders wouldn't be "over the heads" of their audience these days.

No, as far as I'm concerned every time the Joker get outs and kills someone, it's on the Batman's head. He's complicit in the crimes. After all, if you put someone in a sanitarium where they have repeatedly broken out, your aiding and abetting his murders. Isn't the definition of insanity trying the same action and expecting different results? That really does go to support that Batman and Joker are just different sides of the same coin.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Matthew Sprange of Mongoose Publishing gave us another "State of the Mongoose" for 2012.

Matthew isn't pointing at RPG's as being a huge source of profit for the company (although they have to battle a reputation for poorly edited and produced RPG books).

I think anyone who's trying to publish RPG's in the days of PDF, E-Book and Print On Demand is facing an uphill battle and Mongoose needs to look at Kickstarter like other traditional publishers have (White Wolf/Onyx Path, Eden Studios, Pinnacle Entertainment Group).

Friday, December 14, 2012

It has been over 5 years since Rome has outlawed the worship of Jupiter and turned it's back on Olympus. Emperor Longinus Faustus, advised by the owl-headed Bardarian and the satyr known only as Lotus, has declared the monotheistic worship of Aten, the official religion of the Empire and begun the persecution of any heretics who chose not to convert.

Jupiter, angered by Faustus's heresy, has raised the continent of Lemuria as a haven for his followers. He required the help of Neptune and has taken Frigg, goddess of earth as his lover. Odin's anger is red-hot at Frigg's adultery and Asgard has declared war on Olympus...and Lemuria.

Praxis is the capital of Lemuria, a city caught between it's past with Rome and it's vendetta against Gaul.

It is a time of war and epic deeds. Where men fight Immortals and the Gods themselves!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Well, the 13th Age Escalation Edition V6 is available and the next iteration will be the finished product.

I'm prepping for a new 13th Age game now and it looks like I'll have a Sorcerer, Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter or Paladin (player is still unsure) and a Rogue/Ranger (I'll be working with mutliclassing soon).

While I had begun brainstorming for Numenera, higher level abilities weren't pushing my buttons (I'm not worrying, it's only the first draft of the rules). And as soon as 13th Age was settled on, I found myself really gearing up for it. I'd really missed running it.

I'm still trying to work out if I want to continue to utilize my Duchy of St. Cuthbert/Jarlsburg setting or move onto something new.

I only had a some brief thoughts on the City of Nucleus, but I might continue working on it for use in 13th Age. And I'll probably have to do something with Zentradi...

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

It's kind of funny, because the one game of Dark Conspiracy I've played was run by a very terrible GM, but I love the game. I'm a big fan of the old Game Designer's Workshop and this is my favorite of all the games they've published. I have most of the original books, but missed out on the reprints from about a decade ago.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Beyond the Supernatural
I have a problem with Palladium Books. Buying their books that is. I don't care for their system, but I love their games.

Brave New World
Even with it's flaws I think its one heck of a Supers game. Right on the money for the power level of early Marvel stories, especially the original X-Men. Hard Magic has me taking a look at this game again.

Numenera
Monte Cook's new game is pretty compelling. I'd like to playtest it soon.

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta
I bought this at Gen Con, but wasn't a huge fan of Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 3E and am not sure I like the idea of custom dice. Especially, since their not available to purchase yet.

Angel/Ghosts of Albion
The Unisystem has everything I should love in a game, but if somehow misses the mark for me. I think it could be a good fit for Hard Magic, as well.

Dragon Age
I really want to find time to try this game out. I might not be able to do it before Set 3 hits early next year.

Monday, December 3, 2012

I downloaded Legend of Grimrock because it was on sale from Steam last week. I'd remembering reading something about it, and when I realized it was an "old school dungeon crawl", I was very, very excited.

I'm pleased to say it's awesome. I've played it quite a bit this weekend and truly love it.

You run 4 characters (created by choosing between Warrior, Rogue and Mage, and the races of Human, Minotaur, Insectioid and Reptoid) through Grimrock.

One of the neat bits is that Grimrock is where prisoners are sent after being given a death sentence by the Empire. An airship takes them to the top and if they can survive to the bottom, they've earned their freedom.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

I decided to do some redecorating around the blog. I'm not sure I like the new look better than the old, but it seemed like change was in order.

I've done some soul searching and hope to get back to my old pace of updates.

I came to realize that quite a bit of my slow down was dealing with the most recent round of gaming drama in August and September. I think, in many ways, I was slightly depressed by the situation--not by the turn of events but my role in them.

As I've said in the past, I'm at least 50% of any conflict or drama that occurs.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

I have run a comic book store for the last 13 years and I have trouble keeping up with all of the reboots, especially from Marvel Comics. Marvel Now appeared to me as a pretty normal reaction to DC's New 52. But I've been generally surprised at the quality of most of the titles.

I wasn't expecting much out of Uncanny Avengers (Brian Bendis's run has not been my favorite), but when I saw Rick Remender writing it, I decided to give it a look. Boy I'm glad I did. #1 was good, but #2 just knocked my socks off! In a way that Stan and Jack must have back in the day. Seriously, it's a very modern book, but it seems to understand all of those cool, over-the-top ideas that "Stan the Man" and "King Kirby" put off for so many years.

Check out Uncanny Avengers, it's possibly the coolest presentation I've seen of the Red Skull in years (and yeah, I'm a big fan of Brubaker's Cap).

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Last night I ran a demo of DnD Next for the Friday group (the group John W. has shaped into a fun group of creative roleplayers).

Dave the Dwarf Fighter
Not John W. the Human Warlock
Abbey the Half-Elf Warlock
Chaypin the Human Sorceress
Will the Human Cleric of Mercury
Brian the Human Fighter
Dan the Wood Elf Fighter
Nathan the Halfling Rogue
Brock the Human Wizard

It was a big group.

The setting is Rome before the birth of Christ. Emperor Longinus Faustus, advised by the owl-headed Bardarian and the satyr know as Lotus, has declared the monotheistic worship of Aten the official religion of the Empire and sought to persecute any heretics who choose not to convert.

Jupiter, angered by Faustus's heresy, but unable to exact any kind of vengeance, has raised the continent of Lemuria as a haven for his followers, with the help of Neptune and by taking Frigg, goddess of earth as his lover. The waters around the island ripe with sea monsters and the only safe route is a path Neptune created by parting the seas. A Legion loyal to Faustus was lost as the sea monsters are capable of discerning the unfaithful and by dragging them to their doom into the sea's walls.

The Senate, fearing Jupiter's wrath, have allowed pilgrims to flee the Empire as exiles. The faithful have safely crossed the Sea Rode.

The group was amongst over 400 pilgrims seeking their new home in the promised land, but was attacked by a large Red Dragon that decimated their ranks. As the group fled the devastation, their combined weight caused a cave in of a hidden cavern below them, but saved their lives in the process.

WotC, released it's newest playtest last night. We have level 1 through 10 of the Rogue, Fighter, Cleric, and Wizard now. I knew we wouldn't be getting the extra levels for the Warlock and Sorcerer, but I'm still disappointed.

Seeing the Maneuvers for Fighters (and now for Rogues) as a separate document is something I'm currently torn over. I like Maneuvers (and Expertise Dice), but want to avoid 4E-like "powers" as it's not my preference of play style. However, since Spells have their own document, I understand the decision. I also like that the number of Maneuvers you know are fairly limited.

I'm supposed to run a demo for John W.'s friday group, so I should have more to say about that later.

Monday, October 29, 2012

I'm guessing I have Writer's Block. I'm guessing, because I'm not really a Writer, but I am blocked. Posting on here was a top priority of my day, but the the last 2 months have been so stressful I almost dread looking at a blank post.

Iuz the Evil is brilliant, patient, and decadent. His ambitions require loyalty, diligence, and creativity. What better way than with the help of his devoted brides?

All of Iuz's Brides are devious and beautiful with a strong lust for power...and Iuz. Many already come from wealthy families, but Iuz "cultivates" any woman who he finds desirable.

Many of his Brides patiently observe an area, alerting their husband if anything provocative occurs. They will often reside in that area for centuries, cautiously adopting new identities as the years pass on.

Bride of Iuz

Medium Humanoid (Human)

Armor Class 14 (+2 Leather)Hit Points 30 (6d8+1)Speed 25 ft.

Senses Darkvision 60 ft.Str 11 (+0) Int 15 (+2)

Dex 13 (+1) Wis 12 (+1)

Con 12 (+0) Cha 17 (+3)

Alignment chaotic evilLanguages Abyssal, Common, Elven

TRAITS

Magic Resistance: A Bride has advantage against saving throws against magical effects.

Bewitching: A Bride has advantage on all Charisma based checks.

ACTIONS

Melee Attack—Dagger: +3 to hit (reach 5 ft.; one creature)

Hit: 1d4 slashing damage.

Magical Attack—Eldritch Blast: +3 to hit (50 ft.; one creature)

Hit: 4d6 force damage.

Warlock Invocations: The Bride can cast each of the invocations once per encounter as an action.

Baleful Utterance: Each creature in a 15-foot cone originating from the Bride must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 2d8 thunder damage and is deafened until the end of their next turn. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and is not deafened. Unattended objects in the cone take maximum damage.

Etheral Stride: The Bride becomes ethereal until the end of her next turn.

Monday, October 22, 2012

I've been reading and enjoying the RuneQuest 6 rules from the Design Mechanism. While I've always enjoyed the simplicity of the RQ/BRP ruleset, I like having resolution system have more levels than we've historically seen.

I was first inspired by Alternity's 3 levels of success and this was further reinforced by reading Steve Perrin's Quest Rules and by reading about some (proposed) changes to Call of Cthulhu's new edition.

So, I've given every skill 3 levels of success corresponding to "C", "B", and "A".

So If I have a Perception Skill of 45 it's broken down to 45 divided by 1, 45 divided by 2 and 45 divided by 5.
A "C" on a successful Perception Skill would be 45 or less.
A "B" on a successful Perception Skill would be 22 or less.
And an "A" on a successful Perception Skill would be 9 or less.

In an opposed skill challenge, whoever succeeds at the highest level wins. If the result is a tie, it goes to the "defender".

Monday, October 15, 2012

After a comic show and far too many Magic tournaments to speak of and the death of my boss's computer (and replacement with a Mac Mini), I think I'm finally through the fire.

Sadly, I haven't had the inspiration to craft any updates and I'm actually fighting to find it even for this post. I just need to get back into sync and push myself.

I was greatly overwhelmed with the most recent DnD Next playtest update and it pushed me to make a decision on my Jarlsburg game which is returning starting this Thursday.

Since it's been well over a months since our last session and it ended on a cliffhanger, and my memory isn't as strong as it once was, I've decided to advance the timeline and have the returning player characters "awaken" not knowing what has happened or how the previous story finished. On top of new perils, I hope for them to uncover what is blocking their memories.

On top of this, I'm converting the 5E game over to RuneQuest 6/Basic Role Playing.

Hopefully it will all work out.

I've had to miss several of John W.'s excellent Wild Talents games and it appears he and I may be running an Iron Kings game cooperatively.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

A guilty pleasure of mine: Haunted Collector. I don't watch a lot of the Syfy channel, but my wife mentioned that a house close to where she grew up would be featured so we watched it. And I was hooked.

What I like about this show is that is captures things that appear to be parnamormal. Obviously, I won't say they are, but they sure appear that way.

Also, John Zaffis and his team try to solve the haunting. I like that. It rings of Ghostbusters. He's not trying to prove the paranormal exists--for him it does, he's trying to fix the paranormal situation.

A couple facts about me:

1) As a high school student, I read a paperback about the are of Indiana where we were living being a gateway for the unexplained. It also mentioned that opening yourself up to such things, was like turning yourself into a magnet. I've always been glad to let myself and the paranormal remain as far apart as possible.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I'd like to apologize for getting behind, last week we discovered our store had an internal problem we are in the process of solving and I'm prepping to set up at the Cincinnati Comics Expo this weekend and then I'll move into the Return to Ravnica Magic Prerelease and Launch the following 2 weeks.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Fire Opal Media and Pelgrane Press have made the 4th Escalation Edition available and even included the 1st Chapter fully laid out. As much I've been enjoying this game since July, it just keeps getting better and better.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I'm not a voracious reader these days, but around halloween I also tend to pick up book at least bordering on horror. I scanned some stuff on Amazon and ended up reading a sample of 14 and Return of the Sorcerer by Clark Ashton Smith. While I intend to pick up Return of the Sorcerer (I'm a huge Cthulhu Mythos fan, my favorite author tends to be Brian Lumley), 14 really grabbed me.

I'd say it's more High Weirdness with some overlapping into the Mythos.

I really am enjoying the book, but it's interesting because while the mystery is unraveling, not much has happened. However, Mr. Clines is a good enough author to keep me moving through the story, however it turns out.

Apparently Peter has also written two novels set in a super hero universe taken over by zombies, so I'll give Ex-Heroes, the first in the series a try when I'm done here.

By the way, I don't really see the "in the style of LOST" bit. I like Lost and I like 14, but don't really get that vibe.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Clawful's real name is pronounced through a series of claw clicks. He is a member of the Karikoni, an Eternian race of crustacean warriors, “Clawful” as he was known outside of Orkas Island, became a core member of Skeletor’s Evil Warriors after he saved Beast Man’s life from a Seclapoid attack. Clawful’s hard shell protects him from both extreme heat and cold. Under a spell cast by Evil Lyn, Clawful’s dull wits were enhanced, turning him into a keen warrior and strategist. He fought alongside Skeletor, leading a battalion of Skeleton Warriors during the Second Ultimate Battle Ground. Clawful uses his dreadful claw to work his evil will!

Since I was 13 or so, my parents would by me some at Christmas as a present. As much as I love eating them, I will make them last for days and days, eating them almost on a secret schedule in my own skull. I even hid them, like a treasure trove.

I was probably 27 before I realized I could buy them year round, but I still try to only to eat them during the holidays. I just doesn't feel right, otherwise.

Even now, after I'm married and out of the house, my parents still buy them for me. My wonderful wife even told her parents to join in.

I think their association with family and Christmas are nearly as strong as the delicious delights I get from feasting on them.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

I know I've been focused on the current playtest of DnD Next, but I'm still very enamored with 13th Age. Fire Opal has a Kickstarter for their first sourcebook, 13 True Ways. It will include the Monk, Druid and Chaos Shaman and if they hit their 1st stretch goal of $37,500 they'll include the Necromancer.